Now various folks call people like me who try to reduce their
environmental impact on the earth "Tree Huggers". Most times I take the
reference as a badge of honor. But sometimes, depending on the context,
I'm not always thinking Bob Ross style happy thoughts about trees.
I
recently built myself up an electric bike and even more recently
pledged that I was not going to charge it off the main power grid. With
the help of my son Peter, I assembled a small bike shed in our back
driveway and a few weeks ago I installed a 100 Watt solar panel on the
shed's roof. Since then all the power for my ebike, radio, phone and
Android tablet have been generated from sunlight.
Late
yesterday afternoon, while it was still bright and sunny, I was
puttering around in the shed and I noticed the Watt meter was showing a
lot less power than I'd expect. I stepped out and looked at the shed's
roof. A tree at the edge of the yard (which I'd always thought of as
quite lovely) was casting its leafy shadow on the solar panel.
"You stupid tree!" I grumbled.
I guess I'm a bad tree hugger.
Kent Peterson
Eugene, Oregon USA
Eugene, Oregon USA
Nice to see a post of yours mentioning a bike again :0)
ReplyDeleteHow about doing a post on your electric bike build and the rig to charge the battery?
I've frequently felt the same sentiment, as a backyard gardener. I want more sunlight than my neighbor's trees will permit. I've often fantasized about hiring a tree assassin. There can be such a thing as too many trees, at least here in Wisconsin.
ReplyDeleteHey, Kent, good to hear from you. I've missed your posts.
ReplyDeleteI was speaking with the folks at Bike Friday today, and thought of you, so I checked your website, and lo and behold...
Enjoyed the little story. Take care and stay well.
Jim L.